Background & Challenge

Halifax Harbour serves as a major hub for international import, export, and tourism with $2.72 billion in business conducted through its Port on an annual basis. With such a high volume of marine traffic, the Halifax Port Authority (HPA) tasked Marine Thinking to examine the structural integrity of Piers 20, 21, 22. Moreover, HPA sought to investigate and collect data on the underlying seabed in relation to corresponding wharf walls of each Pier.

Solutions

3 PIERS. 3 AUTONOMOUS SURVEYS. IN ONLY 30 MINS.

To conduct the inspection, surveyors used Marine Acadia™, an electric-powered autonomous rigid inflatable boat (RIB) with remote control and autopilot navigation. From start to finish, Acadia autonomously scanned all three Piers within 30 minutes.

At the helm of Acadia’s autonomous performance — Marine Tensor™, the company’s AI-driven control and communication system. This advanced technology offers a tangible and cost-effective path for companies to gain intelligent performance across several key functions:

• Navigation — for remote and autonomous control
• Edge AI Computing — for real-time decision-making
• Networking — for global connectivity
• Integrate Payloads – for expanded functionality

Results

Following the survey, the bathymetric data was post-processed into 3D maps, allowing Marine Thinking to identify trenches and other irregularities along the seabed. Spanning most of the wharf walls and varying in depth, unnatural seabed scouring was suspected to be the cause of trenching for each berth.